Good Morning Britain one month on: Is the breakfast show doomed?

Has the ITV breakfast show found its feet? Or is it sinking fast?

Watching breakfast TV is a habit and it has to fit into our busy morning schedules, so a slight change to the format can mean that our 10-minute breakfast break with our corn flakes and the telly suddenly coincides with the weather and we'll probably switch channels or even switch off altogether.

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Ken McKay/ITV

Viewers look for familiarity, comfort and something easily digestible in the mornings. BBC Breakfast has nailed all three of these traits over the last five years and for that reason, ITV has been floundering to match them in the early morning ratings war.

GMTV had grown tired and grey, and Daybreak was an ugly explosion of colour and dreadful decisions. The channel's latest attempt to wrestle back viewers, Good Morning Britain, opened with lukewarm reviews one month ago and the ratings have been dropping ever since.

But are the problems terminal? And is the new-look American-style news format worth viewers taking a second look?

One month on and in many ways, little has changed from the opening episode. The mind-boggling array of tickers across the bottom of the screen remain, Andi Peters is still heading around the country handing out cash to members of the public with a cardboard wheel and the format remains simple: quick-fire chunks of the biggest news interspersed with 'banter' between the hosts and gentle sofa chats with guests.

Ken McKay/ITV

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All of the above (including the rolling news banners and the poor flogging of Andi Peters) remain just about acceptable. Sadly, the show's tone - a problem highlighted in our first episode review - is still shakier than a bowl of jelly balanced on table with a broken leg.

The hard news segments - today, it was the obesity crisis and a meltdown within the Lib Dems - are flimsy. The fluffy segments, Jenga Cat and showbiz news, still feel forced and unnatural, like the presenters are scared to have actual fun.

Producers need to make a brave move on what show they want Good Morning Britain to be and then stand by it. At the moment, it's a soup, starter, main course and pudding on the same plate and the results aren't going to satisfy anyone, whatever they're after.

For what it's worth, the presenters are making a decent fist of the scraps that they're given. Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard look comfortable as the two main presenters and have a decent rapport.

Ken McKay/ITV

Ranvir Singh and John Stapleton were filling in for Sean Fletcher and Charlotte Hawkins today to complete the foursome. They were slick, likeable and making a decent fist of trying to eek something interesting out of a slow news day. (Stapleton: "Just what impact will the death of Malcolm Glazer have on Man United?" Reporter: "Probably none at all." Oh.)

The extended table of four still needs work, though, and maybe breaking up Shephard and Reid so they're not always front and centre might shake things up a bit. It's always going to be tricky making a table of four presenters (along with a weather presenter and various showbiz regulars) all feel relevant, but at the moment it still occasionally feels like the presenters are clinging onto the corners of the desk and a bit surplus to requirements.

If we were giving Good Morning Britain a grade after one month, it would still be a cautious C-. It has the building blocks to work, but its talented team are currently hamstrung by dodgy ideas and a lack of conviction in whether the show should be fun or dynamic. Or heaven forbid, both.

ITV

Did Susanna Reid really leave BBC Breakfast to broadcast videos of her own cat playing Jenga to the nation? Was it really worth getting John Stapleton to awkwardly read a bulletin about the One Direction joint video 24 hours after it was actually news?

And how much build-up do we actually need for Laura from the weather retaking her driving test? It was trailed for nearly two hours. Two hours! It was the weather presenter... retaking her driving test. Even The One Show might have considered that segment trivial.

Good Morning Britain can't be considered a failure just yet, but it's not made any real serious changes in its first month and it will have to at some point if it doesn't want to suffer the same doomed fate of its predecessor.

Have you stuck with Good Morning Britain? What do you think it needs to do to boost ratings? Let us know below.

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